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- Quality of life in caregivers of patients with multiple myelomaPublication . Pereira, M. Graça; Vilaça, Margarida; Pinheiro, Marisa; Ferreira, Gabriela; Pereira, Marta; Faria, Sara; Monteiro, Sara; Bacalhau, RosárioObjectives: This study aimed to assess the relationship between sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological variables with quality of life (QoL) and the moderating role of caregivers’ age and caregiving duration in caregivers of patients with Multiple Myeloma. Method: The sample included 118 caregivers who completed questionnaires that assessed psychological morbidity, satisfaction with social support, coping, burden, unmet needs, and QoL. Results: High psychological morbidity, burden and information, financial and emotional unmet needs were associated with lower QoL, while higher satisfaction with social support and more effective use of coping strategies were associated with better QoL. Women caregivers reported more satisfaction with social support and those who did not choose to care reported greater financial unmet needs and more use of coping strategies. The relationship between caregivers’ psychological morbidity/social support and QoL was mediated by emotional needs and double mediated by coping and burden. The caregivers’ age moderated the relationship between psychological morbidity/social support and emotional needs. Conclusion: Interventions to support the caregiver’s emotional needs to promote their QoL are needed. These should be particularly tailored for older caregivers reporting greater psychological morbidity and younger caregivers less satisfied with their social support, as they have a negative indirect impact on their QoL.
- Validation of the Short‐Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey in older patients with myelomaPublication . Pereira, M.Graça; Pereira, Marta; Vilaça, Margarida; Ferreira, Gabriela; Faria, Sara; Monteiro, Sara; Bacalhau, RosárioBackground: Multiple myeloma (MM) affects mainly the older population and is the second most prevalent haematologic cancer. MM patients’ unmet needs are diverse, arise at different stages, and are associated with greater psychological distress. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Short-Form Survivor Unmet Needs Survey (SF-SUNS) in Portuguese MM patients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 213 MM patients. The internal consistency of the scale was analyzed with Cronbach’s α. Principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess construct validity. Convergent validity was examined by using correlations with quality of life, satisfaction with social support, and psychological morbidity. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to explore the contribution of sociodemographic and clinical variables to unmet needs. Results: The Portuguese SF-SUNS’s factor structure follows the original’s structure, although it includes fewer items. For each domain, Cronbach’s α was ≤0.70, the minimum acceptable criterion. For construct validity, only unmet relationship and emotional needs had significant correlations (r ≥ 0.40)—specifically negative associations with quality of life and social support and positive associations with psychological morbidity. Regarding patient variables and SF-SUNS results, only cancer stage contributed significantly to unmet information needs, with patients at stage I reporting more needs than patients at stage III. Conclusions: The SF-SUNS represents a valid and reliable tool to assess unmet needs among Portuguese MM patients. It may be useful in designing and monitoring interventions to improve well-being in cancer survivors.